Sawmill-block cleaner



June 24, 1930. A. BRATLIE SAWMILL BLOCK CLEANER Filed May 15. 1929 4\firthurfirmlie Patented June 24, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ARTHURIBR-ATLIE, OF SNOQUALMIE FALLS, WASHINGTON, ASSIG-NOR TO WEYER- HAEUSERTIMBER COMPANY, OF TACOMA, WASHINGTON, A CORPORATION OF WASHINGTONSAWMILL-BLOCK CLEANER Application filed May 13,

the course of this handling bits of bark are broken off and dropped,some of them upon the blocks. Sawdust also tends to he as a thickcoating upon all parts of the carriage. If these blocks be not keptclear of this debris the timbers will be ultimately supported, perhapsat one edge, slightly above the blocks, so that they will be cantedslightly with respect to the knees, in part or wholly, and planks sawedtherefrom will not be square nor of uniform thickness. If the dbrishappens to lie between the rear edge of the timber and the forward faceof the knee, the timber, though still resting on the blocks squarelywill be forced outwardly at this point, and again the planks will not besquare or of uniform thickness. Such dbris, particularly sawdust, ifleft on the blocks, may penetrate between the kneeand the block andinterfere with the proper operation of the knee.

It is the principal object of my invention, then, to provide preventivemeans which may be associated with such blocks and knees, whereby theblocks may, whenever it is desired to do so, be cleaned of the debriswhich gathers in front of the knees, thus completely obviating thedifficulties mentioned above. i

It is a further object to provide a mechanism capable of accomplishingthe results above, which may be easily attached to various types ofknees, and which is simple and convenient, and reliable in operation,and adapted for operation by a medium gen erally available in connectionwith sawmills. r

My invention comprises the novel parts, and the novel combination andarrangement 1929. Serial No. 362,760.

of the parts, as shown in the accompanying drawings, described in thespecification, and as will be particularly defined by the claims whichterminate the same.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown my invention in a typicalarrangement, associated with a standard block and knee, it beingunderstood tht it may be varied in form and arrangement, especially asthis may be required by other blocks and knees. V

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my device, shown associated with astandard block and knee. I

Figure 2 is a horizontal section through my device, showing the methodof attachment of the same to the knee.

Figure 3 is an end view, and Figure ft is a plan view showing the mannerin which a timber may be misplaced on the blocks by a piece of debris,and Figures 5 and 6 are, respectively, end elevation and plan view,showing a timber canted by a piece of dbris which has displaced thetimber from its proper position. I

As I-have stated before, the particular construction o-f'the sawmillcarriage, indicated at 9, the block Syand theknee 7, and

the particular mechanism for operatin the various elements, have noparticular earing on my invention, and may be any standard or selectedform. As illustrated, the block 8, which is one of a series of suchblocks, is disposed transversely of the carriage 9, which islongitudinally movable on tracks, which are not shown, and the knee 7 istransversely movable, by means not shown, on the block 8. The timber tobe sawed, indicated at T in Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6, rests upon the uppersurface of the block 8, and is engaged at its rear face by the forwardface 70 of the knee 7. To slide it forwardly along the block intoposition to be sawed by the saw S (see Figure 3) various dogs and othermechanism for holding and moving the timber may be provided, but thesehave been omitted for purposes of clearness, and inasmuch as they formno part of my present invention.

ber T is resting upon the surfaceSO of the block or blocks, and theknees 7 are moved forward to advance the timber into the path of the sawS. If a piece of dbris, such as a bit of bark, indicated at D, happensto fall upon one of the blocks, between the rear face of the timber andthe advancing forward face 70 of the knee 7, this portion of the timber,which may be one end, for example, is thrown outwardly by just thethickness of the piece of debris, and upon the saw S entering the timberits kerf K will not be parallel to one of the squared faces, butinclined with respect thereto, and the first plank removed, at least,will be tapering, and considerable valuable timber will be lost.Furthermore, the bit of debris at D, during the course of advancingtimber, may be broken up, and the various planks will again be tapering,so that one bit of debris at such a location may, to a considerableextent, spoil the entire timber, or at least cause the loss of aconsiderable proportion thereof.

However, on occasion, the knee may engage the rear face of the timber,but the piece of dbris, indicated at D in Figures 5 and 6, may lie underthe rear edge of the timber at the junction'of the knee and block, andthis will cause the timber to be canted somewhat, so that the plankssawed off of the timber will not have their edge square, and

the first plank, at least, will be thicker in some portions than it isat others, and the faces thereof will be tapered somewhat, transverselyof the plank.

To insure that all such bits of debris are removed before the timber isadjusted to its final position for sawing up, I provide a member 1located at the junction, or angle, of the surfaces and 80 of the kneeand block, respectively; the surface 70, at the junction with the blocksurface 80, being recessed, as seen at 71, the member 1 being normallyinward of or flush with the surface 70 of the knee, but at any event notoutwardly thereof. This member. 1 has means to project it forwardly, incontact with the surface 80 of the block, so as to sweep this surfaceclear. Preferably, this member 1 is somewhat resilient, and it may bepivotally mounted by one end, sothat it will move with a sweeping orpivotal motion. Should it strike an object which is diflicult to move(the timber itself for in- .stance),it will not, because of itsresilient character, be liable to break, but will yield.

The means for operating this member will necessarily vary with thecharacter and arrangement of the block and knee to which itis attached.So, also, the motive power will vary. Some saw-mills are electricallycontrolled, and others are controlled by compressed air, or steam. Inthe arrangement shown in Figures 1 and 2 the mechanism is arranged foroperation by compressed air. Hence, a pipe 3 leads from a source ofcompressed air (not shown) to a cylinder 2, within which is reciprocablea piston 20. A piston rod 21 projects forwardly from the piston 20, andthis piston rod is in effect connected directly to the arm 1. As the arm1 must be at the level of the upper surface 80 of the block and as it isnot desirable to place the cylinder 2 at this elevation, but preferablysomewhat lower, it will generally be found convenient to connect thepiston rod 21 to an arm or lever 11, secured upon a vertical shaft 12,to which the arm 1 is secured, as, for example, by securement to an arm13 fast upon the shaft 12. The entire arm 1, and its connections, may besuitably supported from the knee 7, preferably by a bracket 10. V

In effect, the piston rod 21 is directly connected to the end of the arm1 to swing it about the pivot axis of the shaft 12. However, thisnecessitates some movement of the point of connection between the pistonrod and the arm 11 in an arc, and to accommodate this the cylinder 2 isprovided with a lug 22, by means of which it is pivoted upon a secondbracket 23, supported by a bolt 24 from the knee 7. V

Admission of air through the connection 3 to the interior of thecylinder 2, controlled by a conveniently located valve 30, will forcethe piston 20 rearwardly in the cylinder, and will cause movement of thearm 1 in a manner indicated by'dotted lines in Figure 2. This causes thearm to sweep over the surface, as has been explained, and to sweep ofithe dbris, and this may be repeated as frequently as may be necessary.The return movement of the arm 1 may conveniently be caused by a spring4, which may be seated against an apertured plate 25 within thecylinder, and bearing upon this plate and against the piston 20. Thus,the arm 1 is automatically returned to its recess 7 0 upon release ofthe air pressure in the connection 8, and the venting of the cylinderthrough this connection, whereupon the timber may be placed in positionupon vthe block 80 and moved forward by the knee 7, with the assurancethat it isv squarely placed. The recess 71 cannot fill up with dbris,since it is closed at all times, except as the bar 1 is sweepingforward, clearing off the dbris in front of it.

l/Vhat I claim as my invention is;

1. In combination with a sawmill block and a knee slidable therealong,means disposed in the face of the knee at its junction with the block,and means operable at will to project said means along the block tosweep dbris from in front of the knee.

2. In combination with a sawmill block and a knee slidable therealong,said knee face at the junction with the block, a member normallydisposed in said recess, and flush with the face of the knee, and meansto project said member from its recess to sweep dbris from in front ofthe knee.

3. In combination with a sawmill block I and a knee slidable therealong,said knee being transversely recessed in its forward face at thejunction with the block, a resilient bar normally disposed in saidrecess, flush with the face of the knee, and pivoted by one end upon theknee, and means for swinging the free end of said bar forward, at will.

4. In combination with the block and knee of a sawmill carriage, aresilient bar normally disposed inwardly of the face of said knee, andcontacting with the upper surface of said block, and means forprojecting said bar forwardly from its normal position, over the surfaceof the block, to sweep dbris therefrom adjacent the knee.

5. In combination with the block and lmee of a sawmill carriage, atransverse bar disposed normally inwardly of the face of the knee andcontacting with the surface of said block, means for pivotallysupporting said bar by one end from the knee, and means likewisesupported from the knee for swinging said bar at will over the surfaceof the block.

6. The combination of claim 5, the barswinging means comprising acylinder and piston, a supply means for fluid under pressure connectingto the cylinder, said cylinde1 being mounted on the knee to oscillate,an arm operatively connected to the bar, and pivotally mounted on theknee, and said piston being directly connected to said arm.

7. In combination with the block and knee of a sawmill carriage, a pairof bracket arms spaced at one side of the knee, a bar pivoted in one ofsaid brackets, and normally extending transversely of and resting uponthe surface of the block, the knee being recessed to receive said arm, acylinder pivotally supported in the other bracket, a piston movabletherein, a controllable fluid pressure connection to said cylinder, anda piston rod guided in said cylinder and connecting to said arm.

Signed in King County, at Snoqualmie Falls, Washington, this 24th day ofApril, 1929.

ARTHUR BRATLIE.

